I sat across from my trusted friend Wise Guy recently and told him, “My heart seems smaller.”
Had unrelenting circumstances — mine and others’ close to me — turned me into some emotional Grinch and downsized my heart?
As I talked some and listened more, I realized that yes, fear had crept in and silenced me … that unknowingly I had fallen prey to the lie that what I felt wasn’t worth expressing.
The truth is, all stories are important. The ones we find in libraries and bookstores … and the ones we live out loud. And yes, even the sad parts, where we struggle and our souls are battered by doubts … yes, those fragments of our stories matter. If we have faith in who we are and Whose we are … and if we stay with our story within the Story, we conquer fear.
And our hearts grow bigger.
I’ve read fictional stories that have enlarged my heart … yes, yes, I have. But it’s when someone shares their real-life-this-is-who-I-am story with me that I learn what courage looks like … and learn how to face down my own fears.
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Comments 10
fear is all i have, ally an enemy
Meant to say, fear is both ally and enemy.
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Andrew: I would have to say that I have learned that what you say is true.
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Andrew: I read this response … and then I saw your second one …
Beth,
Even if your heart were smaller, it’d still encompass the Rockies. Fear sneaks in and tells lies to all of us, poking us in the places where we’re most vulnerable. I hate it when that happens. But I love what you said about Whose we are and our story within the Story. What an encouragement!
Thanks so much!
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Angie: Thank you for encouraging me today. God has blessed me with so many wonderful friends within my story — like you.
And the phrase about the story within the Story? I have to credit my husband Rob with that bit of truth. He suggested that little tweak after reading over the post (he always reads over my posts — isn’t he just the best?) I had written about remembering who we are and Whose we are. and about our story — but he said something like “don’t you want to say our story within the Story?”
And he was right.
I love (& agree with) Angie’s opening line. I congratulated myself recently on writing about an event honoring the person I’ve been in close rela. w/ that has been the most difficult in my life. I was pleased that my words were affectionate and held grace and humor. And then the backlash began like a farmer doing spring plowing and turning up new stones. Whoops, still some things there. There may always be. But I’m just responsible to keep my heart vulnerable and open and let the Lord massage and empty it as needed and afterward refill it with Himself–each time.
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Dee: May I just say you are one of the wisest people I know? You are. You are.
My story is important.
I believe.
Help my unbelief.
Not the end.
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Bernadette:
Amen and amen.
Yes, your story is important. And sometimes you struggle to believe that — as we all struggle to believe our stories are important.
You are important. Your story is important.